Save lives The Time for action -The introduction of the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine in Iran A Health Policy Proposal

Backgrounds:WHO has recognized the importance of HPV related diseases, which emphasizes on the cervical cancer and other HPV-related diseases’ prevention as a public health priority, through the achievable and feasible introduction of HPV vaccine. The HPV vaccine is implemented in many countries; however, it has not yet entered into the Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) in Iran. This paper proposes a health policy to decrease the burden of HPV-related diseases by vaccinating females and males aged 9 to 14 years (in grade 6), which comprise the target group for protection.Material and method : Two doses of the vaccine should be given at a gap of 6 months. The setting for vaccine delivery would be both government and private schools. This proposal uses the ‘policy analysis triangle’ as a framework to examine what the policy entitled (content), where is the origin of the key ideas (context), how implement and evaluate the policy (process) and who are the key actors (stakeholders) Result: This paper suggests a policy analysis for the introduction of HPV vaccine in Iran in order to reducing HPV burden. Development of new vaccine policy requires multiple iterations of policy formulation, engaging immunization stakeholders, consideration of the policy context, increasing community awareness, learning from the experience of developed as well as developing countries around the world, evaluations of cost and cost-effectiveness, and constant assessment.Conclusion: The magnitude of HPV-related cancer cases that could be averted by HPV vaccination emphasize the need to implement HPV immunization program, which might become the only realistic opportunity to reduce present inequalities in cancer risk